View Is Always Different From Across The Street Or In Chairman's Seat

BUSINESS

When things aren't going the way you want, a good sense of humor can be the best defense. Even readers of business news reports seemed to have mastered the technique of laughing instead of crying.

A.J. Steigerwald of Winter Park questions the conclusions drawn from a recent poll that said 67 percent of respondents favored a mandate requiring employers to pay 80 percent of their employees' health-insurance costs. Steigerwald wants to know how many of those polled were employers and how many were employees.

To make his point, he proposes a rule that would require all residents of even-numbered houses to pay for the Clinton health bill. ''A poll conducted on my side of the street,'' he adds, ''revealed that 100 percent of the respondents were in favor of this bill.''

I like the idea, too, but my neighbors across the street said they wouldn't go for it.

Bill Wilcox, who splits his time between Orlando and Franklin, N.C., thinks he has a solution for Virginians who oppose the construction of a proposed Disney attraction near historic sites. If the deal goes through, Wilcox says, Virginians could elect Ollie North to Congress and ''get him to shred the contract.''

H.R. Hudson also counts himself among those who do not think Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner should pursue his plan to turn Virginia soil near Civil War battlegrounds into Disney's America, a theme park. As Hudson sees it, ''Eisner could care less as long as there is a chance to make a buck.''

Well, making a buck is what chief executive officers are supposed to do, but I get the point. Eisner certainly isn't getting very good press on this one. If Disney conquers Virginia, Hudson reasons, Washington could fall next to the Disney offensive.

What I would like to know - from a business point of view - is how many tourists who now make annual trek to Walt Disney World in Central Florida would be short-stopped by a theme park in Virginia? Florida Commerce Department figures show that tourism declined by 4 percent in the first quarter of 1994. That translates to 500,000 fewer visitors than for the same period last year - even without competition from Virginia.

Jack Hartnett of Seminole County isn't laughing, but he thinks it's funny that Orange County residents pay 6 percent in sales tax and their neighbors in Seminole County pay 7 percent. A car dealer, Hartnett said, reminded him that it cost Seminole County residents ''only $50 more'' to purchase a car. ''He forgot that it's my $50 - not his,'' Hartnett says.

Hartnett's conclusion is that, ''We need a flat sales-tax rate in the state to avoid all these little special rules.''

Joseph Foley of Titusville may have an idea for helping the United States through its currency crisis, as well as making us less dependent on foreign investors. Some analysts think that foreign nations are ganging up on the U.S. dollar in the attempt to drive up interest rates - particularly on those 30-year treasury bonds that foreigners love to own.

Foley says he has shied away from 30-year bonds for many years, ''primarily because the interest was paid semiannually.'' Foley explains that he would be a better candidate to buy the long-term bonds if the interest were paid quarterly. So would a lot of other people, I suspect. Six months is a long time between paydays, particularly for those on fixed income.

But the best thing about the idea is that it might keep a lot of dollars at home and make us less dependent on foreigners to finance our debt. Based on what has been happening with the dollar in recent months, some analyst think foreign nations are saying to us, ''raise your interest rates - or we will not buy your government securities.''